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2011-09-20 - Blackstone Falling
It's been too quiet a night. Elizraim is somewhere around, composing, and there's no sign of any assassins armed with Onyx. The weather is...dreary, grey without actually raining, summer's heat giving way to the crispness of fall. Panacea is crouched low over her skybike, frowning as they fly over the suburbs at the edge of the city. "Too quiet." Nearby, the armored form of Man-at-Arms rides upon his armored Steed, running across the air to keep up with the skybike. He isn't usually one much for patrolling, but when asked he is happy to accompany a teammate. He has also seemed to be in a very good mood all evening. His mind is even gently projecting that 'good mood', a sort of softly giddy pleasure, complete with ... music. Ballroom music, like a classical - or baroque - soundtrack. "Is it?" he inquires of Panacea, a bit curiously. Usually, Elizraim is the one who thinks in music. Panacea makes a mental note...she figures this is something Manny does when he's in a really good mood and she just hasn't seen it before. Then...she sees it. "Shooting star...should keep an eye on it, just in case it's an alien spaceship." Honestly, Pan, horses, not zebras. Man-at-Arms doesn't so much 'think' in music as he does 'feel' in music, at the moment. And it would seem to be something new, quite possibly connected with this very good, positive mood he is in, whatever the cause of that. He seems a mite non-plussed by Panacea's reaction to the shooting star. "Doest thou not wish upon the sighting of such, Panacea?" he inquires. Whyever would she be worrying about alien spacecraft, after all? "Some people do..." No, she didn't answer him about it being too quiet, having gotten distracted by the meteorite. "As long as it doesn't hit somebody's car. Looks like it might actually hit the ground." Most, of course, don't. The young knight doesn't seem too upset at Panacea ignoring his question. Then again, it might almost seem as if he can't actually get upset, given the start of his mood tonight. Probably not strictly true, but it might seem that way. "I never took you for an astronomer, Panacea. From whence cometh your interest in such things as heavenly bodies?" "It's going to land in somebody's yard. That's enough for me to check it out, just to make sure it doesn't knock their dog out or something stupid." Man-at-Arms can usually accept being ignored, at least a bit. And being in such an amazingly good mood, he can probably tolerate it a bit more tonight than other nights. But he does have his limits. "Very well. Lead on, star-chaser." Panacea wasn't ignoring. Just kind of...misunderstanding. She changes course towards the location where the meteorite appears to have landed...or rather, she does for a while...then she suddenly yelps as if in pain, losing control of the skybike for a moment as her hands go to her head. Owowow. Definite, visible owowow. Man-at-Arms ... cannot steer a skybike. And with her hands on her head like that, neither can Panacea. So the young knight does the best he can - he snatches up the whimpering psion and settles her on the horse's back in front of him. If the bike falls, he'll try to snare it by creating a rope to do so, but she is his top priority. Hence touching her, letting his strange power take over and tell him what is wrong with her. What does one do when the Healer is the one who is injured? Panacea regains control, but she veers away. "Dammit. Manny. Please go to that lawn and tell me what color the meteorite is." She's keeping a distance from it herself. "Please." Panacea recovers, and clings to her bike, so Man-at-Arms is stuck holding onto her, riding very nearly right on /top/ of the bike, as she apparently refuses to be dragged over onto the horse. And he can't make much sense out of what his diagnostic ability tells him. She clearly has a headache, but he can't begin to puzzle out what could be causing it. And then she is shucking his grip and veering away, leaving the young knight very, very confused. Still unused to being addressed as 'Manny', he pulls Steed up short and watches Panacea with concern. "What ... color?" OK. That's weird. But, she isn't explaining and he's not going to debate things right now. He goes galloping off to find the meteorite. And see what color it is. What?!? She asked! Well, first of all, it destroyed somebody's greenhouse roof. Second of all, it's black. And steaming slightly. Very black...the kind of black that seems to suck in all light. Other than that, it seems completely ordinary. Recovering...especially now Manny's let go of her, although she's hardly mad with him for that. Oddly, she uses her comlink, not her telepathy, << So. What is it? >> Man-at-Arms takes a bit to respond, as he lands Steed and heads into the greenhouse, using his great strength to lift things, trying to set things to rights as best he can - a limited outcome, unless he intends to do a whole lot more work. But it does give him the chance to spot the rock. "It appears to be a dull, matte black stone, Panacea." he responds after a bit. "Okay. Bring it out of there, please, but keep it at least 100 yards away from me. It's a psychically absorbent rock...that should not be here at all. Does a number on telepaths who operate on a certain frequency." Sounds awfully technical, doesn't it. "Please. I don't want to leave it around, I can't be sure it won't do bad things to any mutant that stumbles across it." Man-at-Arms does not understand, pretty much at all. But he seems used to not understanding what others say. She seems convinced this will not harm him, but while brave he is not stupid. He summons a shovel of mythic steel, and scoops up the meteorite. Then he summons a strongbox of the same material, and drops the meteorite inside, hoping it is not somehow hot enough that it actually melts through the case. Then he hefts the chest he has created, and marches back to mount Steed, thundering off into the air in a spiral, heading away from Panacea. She does indeed. And she follows only once he's a good distance ahead. "Drat it. I'm not sure what the best thing to do with it is." It's rock, so not easy to destroy. "I cannot exactly carry it back up amongst the stars, Panacea. I could let Steed carry it back from whence he comes. But I suspect he would just return with it whenever I called him." And Man-at-Arms has no intention of never calling Steed again, for pity's sake. "Could it not simply be broken up into bits, used in protective charms for those with reason to fear telepaths?" "No!" Panacea's alarm at that is audible. "First of all, it probably doesn't work on all telepaths. Second of all...it has all of their screams in it." Which makes no sense. "How it ended up here, I don't know, but I fear there may be more. It holds the cry of a dying race." Ewww! "But would not 'telepathy' by its very nature all have to work relatively the same way? They are all 'reading' the same thing, are they not?" Man-at-Arms questions. "If the stone carries the death-cries of a dying people, then ought we not lay it to rest? A proper burial ritual and cleansing?" "That might work. But I'll have to talk to my father about it. About making sure it won't nail anyone who walks past...and there are resonances. For example, it's a lot easier for me to communicate with my father than with a total stranger...and even easier with my brother. Of course, even human twins sometimes have a mild telepathic bond." She...said human. Didn't she. "'Even' human, you say?" Man-at-Arms picks up and responds, still holding the chest with the black stone inside. Given he has never heard mention of Panacea's family in any way, this is all news to him. But the thing that seems to bother him most? The implication that Panacea does not identify herself as human. He didn't like learning that Elizraim wasn't human. He clearly has very definite ideas about equating 'people' with 'human'. Usually this isn't a problem. But ... A pause, then. "I shouldn't hold out on you. I'm only half human. My father's a space alien." Poor Man-at-Arms. He's going to have to get used to these things, of course, but none of it is going to be easy for him. "What?" Honestly, Man-at-Arms is usually so well-spoken, it's enough o a statement that he has been reduced to single-word responses and incomplete sentence fragments. Clearly, he is upset. Confused, perhaps. But clearly upset. Clue? Given as disrupted as she is feeling, Panacea probably doesn't even realize that the music stopped. She's still keeping her distance, thanks to the chunk of blackstone Manny is carrying. "I know you have difficulty with non-humans. And I *am* proud of the human side of myself, but it's not all that makes me up genetically...or even culturally." Sounds like she considers culture more important. For some reason, Man-at-Arms makes quite a face at that, which is the only clue Panacea is getting right now, given her telepathy is pretty well null and void so long as he is carrying that stone. "What did you say?" he questions, abruptly. He almost sounds ... irked. Annoyed. Almost, but not quite, angry. Testy, at least. "Did you just say 'you have difficulty with non-humans'?" That almost sounded ... growly. "No. I mean that...I get the feeling, the impression, that you aren't used to being around people who aren't human. It's not like there are a *lot* of aliens on Earth." A few. But joy. She's upsetting him again, and now she's worried it's not her...that it IS him, that he has a real problem with her and Elizraim. "How wouldst, then, I nor any other gain such 'use' enow?" Man-at-Arms comments. "The greatest problem in our world, in our society, is the separation of peoples, Panacea. You, with your gifts, shouldst know this better than any, certainly better than such as I. And the label most oft used, throughout history and even in this day, to create that separation as the seed and justification for evil, is simply this: not human. Not 'like us'. 'Not of the people'." That can't be all of the reason why Man-at-Arms gets so bent about this, but honestly that's a damned good reason. "I gravely dislike any who wouldst lay barrier were none need exist. Such a separation, one way or the other, becometh the seeds of discord, injustice and wrong." If she wasn't flying a skybike, Panacea would facepalm. In fact, whatever she just realized causes her to get a little too close...and then quickly veer away. "I'm an idiot." "Nay. Thou art not an idiot. Sometime, er now, thou canst be a bit foolish or mistaken. But to err, sayeth the greater wisdom, is human indeed." Man-at-Arms insists. Yeah, he doesn't get it. "*You* are using human in the spiritual sense, to refer to people, things above animals, sentients. *I* am using it as a species identifier. We need to start talking the same language." She's relieved. She *gets* it now. Talking the same language would require that they both /understand/ the other's language. "'Species identifier'? What means this, then, if not, as I hath said, a separation? Thy father hail from a different shore. There is no sin in this, except that another makes it so. He is still a man, is he not? As worthy of respect and honor as another." Not being much for science, obviously, Man-at-Arms doesn't really grokk 'species identifier', except to be exactly what he just finished lambasting against. Panacea nods. "But there are differences. Let's hide the dang blackstone somewhere so I don't have to talk over the comlink?" "But where would it then be safe to lay the stone to rest?" Man-at-Arms queries simply enough. After all, what's wrong with the comlink? Hunh? "I'm going to ask my father if there's a way to shield it...something we can wrap it in, maybe, so we can...I like your suggestion. For now...somewhere nobody's going to stumble on it." Where they take it, where they put it, Man-at-Arms leaves up to Panacea. He has no good ideas, apparently, and she is the one harmed by its presence. Assuming she can settle on a place, Man-at-Arms will take it there and inter it there, as safely and securely as he is able. They can broach the difficulties of conceptual communication later. Category:Logs